#i love fathom hatchlings

[magmabloodrebuke]

the faine, the myth, the legend! sornieth's tiniest scam artist! little baby fathom so small, he steals your valuables and uses them to buy candy. <3

skin is cove plunderer by oxeye!

[trappolia]

── AND THE POISON STAINS MY MOUTH

malleus draconia. mortality, humanity and grief.

Malleus will never know grief before you.

He thinks of grief as a concept made by humans, their time on this realm so fickle and small; a painting of his mother and father in the colours of Lilia's mourning garment, an absence of which he as a child struggled to understand. He grasps at the idea of it, cradles it in his tiny palms like a flickering firefly. The curious fae-child dreams of loss, but no sort of magic can conjure the ache of something he never had.

He cradles the firefly anyway, watches its light flicker and die out. When you call his name and he looks up to see you — youthful, vibrant, mortal — Malleus wonders if the same fate will befall upon you.

Malleus tries to borrow the grief from the part of him that will exist in decades time. Grasps at that dying light in a future he cannot imagine, a future without you. There is something morbid here, he understands— a fixation on the concept of grief, mourning, mortality. He will never understand it, he thinks. He tries anyway. But grief is a painting he cannot capture when you are still living and breathing beside him, your light candescent in the perpetual dullness that Malleus himself never realised his life was stuck in.

He cannot imagine it, this— this life without you. That one day he will look upon the stars and you are not somewhere in the same realm, looking up at the very same constellations. It is not a matter of refusing to acknowledge it, no— Malleus simply cannot fathom the very real possibility that one day he will be here and you will be gone.

Malleus wonders what Lilia sees when he looks at him with you, what makes his eyes soften and the mourning weigh less on his shoulder. As a growing child, Malleus had thought that Lilia's grief grew smaller as the centuries passed— he understands now that the scope of Lilia's life has only grown around it, no longer twin wounds in the gaping maw of his chest, but hands cradling the grief as Meleanor might have done to Malleus, had she lived long enough to see him hatch.

"They will die one day," Lilia told him once, hovering by Malleus's perch on the balcony as they watch you walk down the stone steps of Diasmonia. "You understand this, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Malleus had said, even when he did not. A life without you did not seem to be much of a life at all, only some far-away dream, one that Malleus finds himself not indifferent to, but certainly unaffected by— for now, at least.

"You will grieve them for the rest of your days."

"I know."

"Do you understand grief, my boy?"

Malleus is quiet. He looks to Lilia, this man that has raised him since he was but a hatchling, who had once loved his parents and grieved for the absence of them in his life that Malleus had never

"No," Malleus confesses.

"You will," Lilia says softly, his voice not unkind, but full of pity. He knows what it is to grieve, but he had lived centuries with Meleanor and Raverne— you will pass long before Malleus is a Fae fully-grown; your life is but a drop in the ocean of his. "By the Seven, my boy, you will."

[merakiui]

タコの花嫁。

yandere!azul ashengrotto x (female) reader cw: yandere, nsfw, non-con, unhealthy behaviors/relationship, arranged marriage, oviposition, breeding, royalty au note - in an effort to bring peace to two warring sides, you are engaged to the sea queen’s son.

If anyone is to blame for the abysmal diplomacy between the Land and the Sea, it would be your ancestors. Pompous and foolhardy, they thought they could rule the grand seas stretching out from the harbor, beyond weather-worn docks with their rotted, seaweed-strewn planks and briny fetor. The ocean was vast, unexplored territory—a dangerous, deceptive beauty harboring life far beneath unruly waves.

And your ancestors intended to claim it.

Sailors would recount tales of fishfolk—uncanny creatures who looked more marine than the two-legged mammals of the land. They’d raise mugs, each overflowing with ale, in drunken merriment, terrifying themselves with the mysteries of the deep, dark sea.

“It ought to give ya a proper scare straight to Davy Jones himself!” they’d say, voices lowered conspiratorially. “Soon as yer candle goes out and all ya’ve got’s the moon to guide ya… You’ll hear ’em slip through the water if yer listenin’ well enough.”

“You ever go and spy one up close?”

“I’d sooner see the Devil himself and let him keelhaul me before facin’ those cursed beasts!”

“The cut of their jib ain’t so pretty. Enough to give men like us a fright and we’ve seen all sorts of somethin’.”

“Monsters, I say! Monsters!”

Festivals were held to keep these beasts at bay—to prevent them from gathering the courage to creep up onto the land. Every year, during the summer solstice, pits were hollowed on the shore and bordered with stones. Flames licked towards the sky, red-orange fingers clawing for purchase amidst the stars above. Townsfolk would sing and dance late into the eve, bellowing songs passed through the generations. Children would skip up and down the beach, torches in hand, and cry out an old chant: “Fish for you and me are meant to stay in the sea! Should you see one on land, may the Heavens strike it down with a gentle, loving hand!”

Their excitement did well to ward off the fishfolk. Sometimes the lone child would spot one in the distance, peeking out from between the rocks before diving back under in a splash.

On land, humans were safe. On land, the fishfolk couldn’t catch them.

It was different in the sea.

Ships were destroyed in terrible tempests. The waves tossed them around as if they were nothing. Many sailors would find their demise at the bottom of the ocean, torn to shreds with shattered skeletons. Viscerally brutalized, they died with secrets on their tongues—secrets of the strange fishfolk who’d drag them down, down, down to a watery grave.

On one cold February afternoon, the octopus prince was brought into the world. In shadowed fathoms, a grand celebration was held. After so much time—misfortune after misfortune—one fry survived out of the entire clutch. He was round and soft and small, colored blue from exertion and fighting through the tug of the current to reach home. The Sea Queen met him halfway and embraced him, ecstatic tears in her eyes, for a mother’s love is stronger than any political power.

“My little Azul,” she said, stroking a hand along his cheek, “how precious you are.”

No ships were sunk; no lives were lost. It was a peaceful day for both the Land and the Sea. And it would continue to be so in the future. Every year on that same February, it was made a day of peace to honor the little prince.

A day of life, not death.

It was on that same February eleven years later when you were tossed into the frigid depths like a hatchling cast out of its nest. Similarly, your birth had been a wondrous occasion. Your parents brought five boys into the world, each just as adored as the last, but they had been hoping for a daughter. It was a miracle when their fervent wishes were finally granted. You were spoiled as all daughters often are, pampered and doted on by your family and the palace staff.

Your brothers, though protective and caring, were a troublesome and rowdy bunch. Kyffin was the eldest. Two years younger was Emyr, and another two years behind him was Owin. A year younger than him were twins Morcan and Martyn. They picked on you as all immature boys often do when caught up in sibling rivalries, aiming to be the only one their parents see. To prove themselves as the best, the strongest, the wisest.

So it was with a half-cruel heart that Emyr tossed you into the waves from where he stood in the rowboat.

“Only way to learn is with exposure!” he called down to you, watching as you struggled against the push and pull of the sea. 

“C-Can’t!” you shouted back, choking on salt and flailing about. “E-Emyr, I can’t—can’t swim!”

“Don’t be silly,” Owin added with a sweet smile. “It’s how we learned. That old sod threw us right in. You’re lucky it’s us and not him. He was awfully mean with it, wasn’t he?”

“Terribly so.” Emyr watched your struggling a moment longer and clicked his tongue. He held the oar out just before you could slip under, and you clung to it with shaky hands. “Come on—let’s get you up here. You’re not gonna get it today.”

“Fin got it on his first try.”

“Fin gets everything on his first bloody try.”

Relieved, your heart pounding like a drum, you peered up at your brothers. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get it…”

“Nothing to apologize for. You’ll get it one day.”

“We’ll keep trying until then. And once you do, we’ll throw you a big party.”

“Really? Will you really do that?” Your expression brightened, but your brothers’ faces darkened. They saw the shadow before you did. Saw the webbed hands reaching out, the serrated teeth glinting in a sinister smile.

And then—

Owin leaned over, his arm outstretched. So fluid was his motion that it took you by surprise. “(Name), grab on! Hurry! Before—”

The rest of his warning was muffled by the water. You hardly had any time to brace yourself when you were yanked under, your nails raking across the wood of the oar as you went with the force of the pull. Salt stung your eyes when you cracked them open, peering frantically at blurry surroundings. Teal-green specks slid silently through the shadows, mismatched eyes flicking over your form. And then there was a high, raucous sort of chittering. Like a dolphin’s cry, loud and piercing. You squeezed your eyes shut and pressed your palms against your ears.

It only lasted a few mere seconds, but it felt like an eternity trapped in the coils of a creature you couldn’t comprehend. One moment you were holding your breath and the next arms were hooked around your torso, and you were pulled up and into the belly of the rowboat. Your hands flew to your throat, and you coughed up seawater while Owin patted you.

“It’s fine. It’s…okay,” Emyr muttered, his voice shot through with fear. It was the most shaken he’d ever sounded.

Blood fogged in the water, staining the tip of his harpoon. He gazed down at his hand. A deep, jagged gash ran angrily from palm to wrist. He hissed and closed his fingers in a tight fist.

“We gotta get back,” Owin was saying, still rubbing soothing circles into your back. “I’ll row. You rest.”

“Not good,” Emyr said instead, shaking his head in dismay as he watched your attackers retreat.

“We’re still in our waters, right? We didn’t go past the boundary, did we?”

“Let’s hope not.”

“We didn’t, right?”

“Let’s hope—” Emyr paused, collecting his words. “Let’s hope those monsters were in the wrong.”

“Father’s gonna kill us.”

“If not us, the monsters.”

Both brothers looked towards you. Your tunic was torn, stained through with saltwater and blood. You shivered all the way to shore.

Following that mishap, an official meeting was called between the Land and the Sea. The King—your father—met the Sea Queen at the border. He stood proud on his ship, peering down at her with fire in his old eyes.

“Your Majesty.”

The Sea Queen was just as formidable as those who came before her. Her tentacles unfurled as one, and if you looked at them long enough they almost seemed to take on the shape of an obsidian-colored crinoline.

“I believe my mother and your father made the terms quite clear all those years ago,” she said, a wave lifting her to meet the King at the deck of his ship. ���So then, with that in mind, there should be no reason for us to meet under these circumstances.”

Emyr and Owin stood just behind their father. You peered through their legs at the Sea Queen, silently amazed. You’d never seen anyone quite like her before. At least, not a real person. You’d seen her in storybooks, depicted as a fearsome beast with devilish features, and though there was something intimidating about her gaze and build she appeared understanding enough. Her grey skin was sleek in the morning sun, her long, silvery strands tied up and pinned with an ornate hair ornament. She looked beautiful in a magical, enigmatic way.

“I couldn’t agree more,” came the clipped response of your father. “Alas, misfortune has brought us here.” He stepped aside to allow her to behold Emyr’s bandaged hand. “Harm has befallen my son and daughter. I suppose you might have an inkling as to why they find themselves in their current state?”

She frowned, but you couldn’t tell if it was out of sympathy or some other emotion. “Perhaps one of them can give reason to the wound now marring one of my subject’s sons.”

Your father glanced overboard at the snake-like merman cradled in the arms of another merman. They looked near-identical, their features unmistakable. He glanced back at Emyr, his gaze hard. “Go on then. Explain yourself.”

Emyr stepped forward. “With wholehearted respect, Your Majesty, it was out of self-defense. Your kind—they attacked us first.”

“You were in our waters!” one of the mers exclaimed, pointing a clawed finger towards Emyr. “It’s all your fault Jade got hurt!”

Owin hurried ahead, his hands gripping the taffrail. “He’s playing it up! It was a graze!”

“He could’ve died! You almost killed him!”

“That is enough,” the Sea Queen said, jutting an arm out to silence both sides. “I understand everyone is hurt here. Our feud lies in misunderstanding.” She gazed at you next. “Little one, we have yet to hear your story. Do share.”

You glanced at the guards, at Owin and Emyr, and then at father. He nodded encouragingly. “U-Um!” Shyly, you approached the Sea Queen. “My brothers were teaching me how to swim. I don’t know anything about whose water is whose. I just wanted to learn how to swim.” You met the fierce scowl of the mer holding his twin brother and quickly looked elsewhere. “He grabbed me before my brothers could pull me up.”

“Because you were trespassing. Anyone who tresspasses ought to—”

“Floyd.”

At the not-so-subtle warning in his father’s voice, he shut his mouth and snarled. His brother—Jade—was handed off to their father, who assessed his state with a frown.

“He will live, but it will take time for him to recover. My son is right. Your son could have killed him.”

“Just as your sons could have killed my sister!” Owin shouted, glaring.

Floyd stuck his tongue out, remorseless.

“It is impossible to know which side is in the wrong,” your father began, turning towards the Sea Queen. “Seeing as both have been injured, I am willing to apologize on behalf of my sons.”

“What?!” Owin’s head turned towards his father. “You’re bloody mad! Have you not seen—”

“Father,” Emyr interjected evenly. “We have nothing to apologize for. We were within our waters. We had no ill will towards the others. It was completely innocent.”

The Sea Queen hummed her contemplation. “The boundary was drawn for a reason, decided upon by those who came before us, and yet it does more harm than good. It is not for safety’s sake. It is to keep us divided—to ensure that neither side will ever know peace.”

“And you’re implying that we get rid of it?”

She nodded, quite serious. Everyone looked on in equal parts shock and disbelief. “Why do we continue to fight? It does nothing but open old wounds, rendering them incurable. Innocent lives are lost in petty squabbling. And for what?”

To that, no one could offer a smart reply.

“Therefore I propose peace. A union to welcome a new era—one in which we embrace one another as allies without animosity.”

“A union?” Your father raised a brow, suspicious but willing to listen. “I suppose it would be beneficial. My people would be free to travel the seas at their leisure.” “And mine would no longer have to live in fear of being thoughtlessly slaughtered and taken as trophies.”

“Unbelievable,” Orwin muttered.

Emyr elbowed him. “Knock it off.”

“We’ll collaborate on a contract. One that dissolves the invisible boundary that has been the cause for so much suffering. In order to attain true peace, I shall offer you my only son.” She glanced at you and then back at your father. “Your daughter shall marry him when they are of age.”

“What?! No way! Ew! Gross!” Your voice came out shrill and you shook your head in protest. “I don’t wanna marry an octopus! No, I won’t do it!”

Your father stood in front of you. “She’s my only daughter. If something were to happen—”

“Which is precisely why I bring up this engagement. Should they be betrothed, we as their parents will promise to uphold peace to give them bright futures and they will act as the first example of a human-mer alliance. Unions between humans and merfolk are unheard of, but is this not the best way to foster harmony between the Land and Sea?”

“I won’t do it! No! Don’t make me marry a gross—” Emyr gathered you in his arms, holding his uninjured hand over your mouth.

“Let the grown-ups talk.”

Owin frowned. “I still don’t agree with this…”

Your father mulled it over, his eyes glazed in thought. “Very well. We will create a contract—an official peace treaty.”

Both leaders shook hands and planned to convene at the end of the week to discuss further.

You watched the mers depart, each one slipping under the sea. Floyd was the last to go, staring at you with a mean sort of vitriol. And then he, too, dove under.

“He didn’t mean it, right?” you whispered to Emyr after your father gave the order to turn the ship around and head for land. “I won’t have to marry an octopus, right?”

Emyr could only offer a commiserate frown.

“She’s a brat,” Floyd spits. “Stupid, evil Two Legs.”

Jade chuckles and runs his fingers over the scar. “I consider it an honor.”

“Yeah, well, I think it’s messed up. She’s the reason you can’t ever swim naturally again. While she’s up there in her pretty, little tower, safe and sound, you’re still hurting.”

“It’s not as much of a hindrance as you may think. I’m not weak, mind you.”

Floyd grumbles. “Still. She’s mean.”

Azul gazes up at the palace, sighing dreamily. “She’ll be my wife someday. That’s what humans call it, yes? Husband and wife… What wonderful words.”

It’s been one year since the peace treaty. Since then, humans and merfolk have made an effort to get along. This is the second time Azul will be meeting with you. He’s nervous. The first time you went out to sea to greet him, and he’d gotten so anxious that he inked right then and there. His mother entertained you from where you sat in the boat with your personal guard. It was a mortifying experience—one that had taken him months to recover from.

Now he’s going to try to meet you in the shallows. Try is the key word here. He’s scared, all three hearts beating as one. Is it too late to reschedule?

“I can’t believe you’re actually okay with this. You that lonely?”

Azul turns to scowl at both twins, but it’s mostly directed at Floyd. “I never asked you to tag along. Leave me alone.”

Jade smiles. “And let the Queen’s little prince swim to his death?”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Sure you can. But what about when Two Legs gets ya? What then?”

“She wouldn’t do that.”

Floyd rolls his eyes. “You saw what her brothers did to Jade.”

“Because you tried to kill her.”

“Because she was in our territory!”

Azul huffs and pushes him away with a tentacle. “Regardless, we’re supposed to be on good terms now. You’ll break the contract if you try anything dangerous.”

“He’s right, Floyd.”

“Ugh. Whatever.” Floyd turns away, stubborn. “This is lame. I’m not stickin’ around.”

Jade lingers long enough to observe the way Azul lights up when he spots you on the stone steps. And then he disappears beneath the water.

Barefoot, holding your dress up and out of the way, you pad across the beach.

“Why are you here? I’m busy. My brothers are taking me into town.”

The smile that had been fighting to break out on his face frosts over. “Oh. I… Um…” Azul fumbles with the conch shell he’d collected on the way here. A gift for you. He made sure to study human speech patterns in the months leading up to this meeting. He’s fully prepared! And yet you look so displeased. “F-For you! I found it…”

You stare at the shell clutched in a dark tentacle. Tentatively, you reach for it. “Why?”

“Ah. W-Well, my mother says gifts are an important part of any bond. In the sea, we give gifts to the ones we care about. To friends and family and o-other halves…”

You turn the shell over in your hands. “We’re not friends.”

“Not yet,” he tries, but you shake your head.

“You ran away from me the last time we met. That’s not very friendly.”

His face flushes blue and he opens his mouth to argue, but nothing comes out. It wasn’t on purpose.

You’re already turning on your heel. “I don’t have time for this.” You toss the shell over your shoulder. Azul watches it land in the sand, just out of his grasp.

“W-Wait! I… I want to talk to you. Please don’t go. You’re going to be my other half one day, so I’d like to—”

But you’re already dashing across the beach to get to the stairs.

Azul deflates against the rock. Tears overflow in floods. Is it because of him? Is he to blame? Why don’t you want to be his friend? Is it because of the peace treaty? Why?

Why? Why? Why?

Azul doesn’t want to think negatively of you. Humans are sensitive creatures. He reads up on them in the palace library, poring over literature and textbooks in an effort to better understand you. But as the months pass and you seem to simply tolerate him for the sake of the alliance, he begins to suspect something.

It’s made apparent the next time he sees you, where you walk right past the beach to catch up with your brothers. He hides behind the rocks, two blue eyes following your figure until you’re out of sight.

Floyd was right. You are a brat.

And yet he can’t hate you.

On the eve of your eighteenth birthday, Azul meets you in the shallows.

Nowadays you send letters, preferring strained long distance over the personal intimacy of face-to-face relations. These exchanges are purely diplomatic. But now that he’s asked to meet with you, a rare occurrence, you’ve deigned to greet him in person. It’s the least you can do after he’s gone through the trouble to travel here. It’s been so long since you’ve seen him that he’s almost unrecognizable. You remember the round, baby-faced octo-mer from your childhood. The one who lounges against the rocks is leaner now—his features defined, jawline as sharp as his eyes. They cut through the gloom to find you.

“You wished to see me?” You’re in your nightwear, a silky gown with an even softer robe. A cool breeze blows across the beach, and you wrap your arms around yourself for extra warmth. “Azul?”

He hesitates, his gaze trailing up your legs. You’ve also changed a lot in the time you’ve been apart. You’ve grown taller, filling out in places he didn’t know humans could fill. What he’d give to hold you… His mother says he needs to be patient. Fickle thing that you are, you’re the reason he’s spent six years trying to appease you through letters—to win you over and be anything more than that “annoying octopus” you’re doomed to marry. Perhaps it would have been easier to act just as you do if it weren’t for the fact that he’d been elated at the premise of having someone to love. When his mother broached the idea in the days following her meeting with the Land King, he’d stared at her with wide, excited eyes.

“There’s a human girl who wants to be my friend?” he asked, to which his mother smiled and nodded.

More than a friend, actually, but then all he was focused on was finally getting to experience the one thing he’d never known or had: friendship.

Sighing, he foregoes formality and holds out a necklace. It dangles from the tip of his tentacle. Strung on a dainty, silver strand, pearls wink back at you under the moonlight. Azul averts his eyes, his cheeks a pleasant periwinkle.

“Happy birthday…”

“Oh.” You move in closer, taking the necklace from him. His tentacle pursues you, twining delicately around your wrist. “Um… What is it? Do you need—whoa!”

Azul tugs you closer. The sea laps at your ankles. Beneath a tapestry of stars, you meet his azure stare. His features are set with a determination you’ve never seen before.

“I want to start over.”

“Start over?”

“I’d like to be on friendly terms with you. We’re so cold. Distant…” Azul frowns, seeming unsure of what to say or do next. The tentacle laced around your wrist like a bracelet tightens its hold. “We’re to be wed one day. I want to make this work.”

You blink at him. He thinks he may have gotten through to you, having finally broken through layers of stone and ice, but then your nose scrunches and odium shimmers in your gaze.

“That’s impossible. I’m a human. How am I supposed to live with an octopus?” You shake him off with a huff. “I’m not sure what our parents think this will accomplish. I don’t want to be a pawn to be moved around for the sake of peace. I’m my own person.”

Azul’s expression sours. His lip curls up into a sneer. “Well, I don’t find it very enjoyable either. You’re not the only victim in this scenario.”

You exhale an exhausted breath. “Azul, I appreciate the gift, but it doesn’t mean anything if you’re only giving it to me to curry favor.”

I wasn’t, he thinks, but he doesn’t say that. Admitting it would be a weakness. Admitting it would mean coming to terms with an unrequited opinion.

“At least one of us is making a conscious effort.”

“At least one of us isn’t trying so hard. It’s pathetic.”

“You’re not obligated to accept my goodwill.” He smiles, smug. “Yet you do every time. I’d wager you enjoy my materialistic affections.”

“As if.” Despite this, you hold the necklace out of his reach when a tentacle flexes towards it. “It’s mine now.”

“So you are fond of my ‘pathetic’ ways!”

“I’m not!”

You jerk away with a vicious scowl, but your foot catches in the sand and you quickly find yourself tipping backwards. If not for the tentacles that coil around your waist to steady you, you would have fallen on your rear. Your chest heaves with adrenaline. Stunned, you stare at Azul.

“You…caught me,” you breathe, lips parted in awe.

“Did you think I’d let you fall?” He cocks his head at you, grinning playfully. “Why, I’d never! Unless it’s me you’re falling for, in which case I gladly welcome the—”

“You’re such a pest.” Untangling yourself from his grasp, which he allows without scrimmage, you step away from the water’s edge. He watches you secure the pearls around your neck, and his hearts stumble in his chest when you point an accusatory finger at him. “Don’t delude yourself with foolish nonsense. I have no interest in you.”

With an indignant harrumph, you start towards the palace.

“May we meet here tomorrow?” Azul calls out after you, testing his luck with what little chance he has.

“Don’t push it.”

“I’ll wait for you.”

“Good. Keep waiting, dummy!” You break into a sprint, hurrying off into the shadows.

Azul smiles at the empty beach. Whether or not you like him, it doesn’t matter. You’re to be his one day. You’ve always been, ever since he was eleven.

He’ll wait, even if you won’t show.

Ostensibly, twenty-one years wise, you’re getting married today.

Your gown is just as exquisite as your hair and makeup. Pearls cling to your throat and arms—classic wedding attire for merfolk. A thin veil shields the scheme in your stare.

This was an inevitability, but you’re determined to fight it until the end. No matter how quickly time seems to pass, you’ll do everything you can to stall and slow it.

Gripping a sharpened dagger in a resolute fist, you drag it through the long, sprawling train of your gown.

“As if I’d marry an octopus,” you grumble, cutting fine fabric until you’re permitted smoother movement. Gazing at yourself in the mirror, you scowl. “I’m no one’s bride.”

By the time the maids arrive to check on you, you’ve already stolen out the window.

The rowboat sways on choppy water. You’ve watched your brothers do this enough times to have the technique engraved in your memory. Your arms strain with the oars, every muscle screaming in protest, but you fight through the pain. The palace looks smaller and smaller with every passing minute. Eventually, you’re so far out that the land is but a mere speck.

It’s going well. You’re escaping towards a better future—a future without the octopus prince.

You glance towards the horizon. Your boat undulates with the waves.

You’ll miss your brothers, your maids, your personal guard…

Water slops over the edge. You yelp, startled. Have the seas always been so rough?

Despite everything, you’ll miss your father.

Just as you think this, your boat rocks to the side. You grab onto the edge to steady yourself, but it’s already too late. It tips over and you go with it, careening into the sea with a noisy splash. Twin shadows cut seamlessly through the murky water. You catch sight of a yellow eye before you propel yourself towards the sky, coughing and heaving once you break the surface. You grab onto the overturned rowboat, your dagger clutched in one hand.

You search the surface for them, eyes flicking to and fro in a frantic panic.

Somewhere… Anywhere… Where are you?

And then you find them, peering at you from the other side of the boat.

“Go on then,” you spit, glaring. “Kill me.”

Floyd bares his teeth at you. “This time I ain’t gonna leave a scar.”

“You know we mustn’t. That’s not why we’re here.” Jade smiles at you, but there’s something in his eyes that unnerves you. “Your Highness, you should know it’s poor manners to leave the groom on his special day.”

Floyd circles you restlessly. “S’not fair we gotta be nice when you’re so mean.”

“I’m not going to marry him.”

“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice in that matter.”

“What’d Azul ever do to you?”

You attempt to answer that before realizing the truth. Nothing. He’s done absolutely nothing but be kind and understanding and patient. And I took that, chewed it up, and spat in his face.

“If you used that brain of yours, you wouldn’t have thrown yourself to the sharks. We can’t get to you on land.” “But it’s fair game in the sea,” Floyd finishes, every syllable dripping with pride. “Stupid Two Legs.”

“I’m inclined to agree. You’re not the brightest human. A pity.”

“My brother should’ve gutted you when he had the chance. Maybe then—”

You see the whites of Floyd’s eyes when he strikes, launching himself at you with a clawed hand, sharp, pointed teeth aiming for your jugular.

This is it. You’re dead.

…or not.

The searing pain never comes, nor does the impending laceration. You cling to the boat and watch dark tentacles rise from the depths to close around Floyd, ensnaring him in a firm hold. He thrashes, snapping his jaws like a deranged beast.

“Let go of me, Azul! Lemme at her! She’s a bitch! I’ll kill her!”

“There will be none of that.” Azul tuts. “I don’t intend to marry a corpse.”

Jade swims over to you. “My feelings aren’t hurt in the slightest, Your Highness. If it weren’t for your status and connection to Azul, I’d have disemboweled you ages ago. Quite a relief for you, yes?”

You swallow your horror, allowing him to detach you from the boat so that Azul can turn it over. A tentacle curls around your waist, lifts you from the water, and places you back in the boat. You stare at your hands. They’re trembling. You can hardly hold the dagger properly.

It takes some convincing and a lukewarm apology from you, but Floyd promises to be good. He doesn’t do anything as you’re pulled back to shore, but he does stare at you for the duration of the trip, his eyes tracking your every movement. You press yourself into the belly of the boat, defeated and riddled with anxiety.

Your father isn’t pleased. When you see his enraged expression, the debate dies on your tongue. “You are to marry the prince,” he seethes, pulling you aside, “or else you jeopardize the peace of our kingdom.”

You’re washed and fitted in a new dress. Guards are stationed at all possible routes to prevent another escape.

When you walk down the beach to meet Azul in the shallows, your veil shields the sadness in your stare.

The ceremony carries on without incident. Floyd watches from the water, lurking like Death. You speak rehearsed vows in robotic monotone, mindlessly floating through the rigmarole like it’s second nature. Azul smiles at you through it all, sweetly smitten.

It’s a nightmare lived in real time.

Humans and mers alike congratulate you, cheering for this momentous occasion. Your tongue is numb by the end of it all. You’ve expressed faux gratitude so many times that it hurts to even force the words. And now, as night descends and the party kicks into full swing, you’re left reflecting on the day.

Freedom feels so far away. You’ll never know it again, will you?

Azul guides you away from the crowd. Firelight grows dim with the distance. Eventually, you find yourself taking refuge in a tiny inlet cut into the beach. A rocky outcrop hides you from the moon’s spotlight.

“I’m not upset,” Azul murmurs, curling a tentacle up your leg. “But Floyd is.”

“His brother’s the one who hurt me all those years ago.”

“That was before the union.”

“I’m not letting it go.”

“Perhaps not now, but you will. One day.”

You don’t believe him.

“Our people are at peace. Aren’t you pleased, my love?”

You shove him away, gathering heaps of your dress to walk in calf-deep water. “I’m not your love.”

“Legally, you are.”

“That means nothing to me. Absolutely nothing.”

Azul sighs. “Even now, after everything, you’re still trying to flee.”

“For good reason. I don’t want to be tied down.”

Azul inches closer. Another tentacle wraps slyly around your ankle.

“You’re so beautiful. I feel like the luckiest mer in the sea. To be able to call you my own… My beautiful bride.” He pulls you closer. You resist weakly. “Now that we’re alone I can finally tell you the very thing I’ve thought of ceaselessly for years.”

A tentacle slides up your leg, straying closer to your inner thigh. You flinch away.

“Azul, wait. I don’t want—”

“I love you.”

You squirm in his hold, attempting to thwart the tentacles that grab at your every limb. You trip over yourself in the process. This time Azul doesn’t catch you. Water laps at your dress, soaking through at once. He’s radiant beneath the moon. Dreading his touch, you scoot as far from him as you can get in the water, hoping to reach land. Azul seizes your wrist and pulls you into his arms. You fight him with more force.

“No… No, let go of me! Release me!”

“Why should I? You’re mine now. Is it not customary for a married couple to consummate their new bond? We do something similar in the sea.” A tentacle brushes your veil back so that he can look upon your pretty face. “I’d take you to a quiet space in the seagrass, lay you down in the sand, and then—”

“I don’t want that! No!” You lash out, swinging blindly. A tentacle shoots out to stop your arm before it can smack him. “Azul, please—”

“I was patient. I waited and waited in hopes that you might warm up to me. I cherished you in silence. I learned your language. Your customs. Your habits. I wrote to you. Traveled to meet you. And yet you look at me as if I’m a monster…”

It’s not the devastated look in his eyes or the edge in his voice that scares you. It’s the startling gentleness with which he handles you. Tentacles loop around your body, exploring beneath your gown. You wriggle in discomfort, yelping when suckers brush against the frilly garter secured around your thigh. Azul hums and holds you up in his tentacles, using two to spread your legs so that he may slide it from your leg.

“I wasn’t forceful. I courted you kindly. You accepted all of my gifts. You wore them proudly and I thought—I knew you would love me, too. You were mine from the moment our parents signed that agreement. And if you leave me, you’ll break a political promise and then our kingdoms will go to war and I’ll be sure to collect the heads of your family first. Each one of them, and you will watch as I bring ruin to the kingdom you love so fondly.”

“N-No… Please stop. Please.”

“I’ve waited ten years for you.” A tentacle hooks around your panties. You thrash again, shaking your head at him. He remains unconvinced, watching with gleeful eyes as your nudity is revealed to him. “And aren’t you an angel? Oh, you’re so pretty…”

Like your hopes, your panties are cast aside.

The tip of a tentacle prods curiously at your pussy. Your breath hitches.

“W-Wait! You… You can’t.” His eyes find yours, and you swallow the rising sob. “T-That can’t go inside… It won’t fit. It won’t—”

Azul smiles. “Of course it will. The human body is capable of marvelous feats.”

Even though it’s pointless, you struggle. “I can’t! Please… Azul, I’m scared. Please don’t do this…”

A lone tentacle slides into your hand. Thoughtless, you hold tight.

“My love, there’s no need to cry. I’m not going to hurt you.” He brings you closer, kissing your tears away. “I’m here for you. I’ve always been here, even when you didn’t seem to need me.”

You hiccup, your chest heaving. It’s not lonely for long, for he pulls your dress down your shoulders. Your breasts spill free and are quickly cradled in cold hands. Azul watches your expression with an intense focus while he rolls your nipples between his fingers. You grit your teeth, refusing to respond. But then the tentacle between your legs finds your clit and a sucker affixes to it, suctioning slowly. You gasp and throw your head back, bolts of pleasure racing up your spine. It happens in a white-hot flash. You slacken in his grasp.

Azul laughs, astonished. “Did you cum? Already?”

“Nooo,” you whine, closing your hand around the tentacle once more. Another one strokes your cheek. “You’ve had your fun. Now let go of me…”

“What a silly demand.”

He tugs on your nipples. You groan, lashes fluttering. “Ooh… Stop. No, stop it… Don’t touch there. Not—haa… Not there!”

“You’re so sensitive.” He drags the underside of a tentacle along your cunt and shivers. “And so wet… Is this your season? Do humans experience such a thing?”

You’ve no idea what he’s referring to, but before you can dwell on it he leans down to take your perky bud in his mouth. Your free hand grabs at his hair, pinning him to your chest. His tongue laves across it, warm and wet. You shouldn’t enjoy it so much, and yet you can’t stop yourself from crying out.

He hums against your skin, beaming like a devil. You can’t hate him. He’s your husband. He’s yours. You shouldn’t hate him.

You’re falling apart in his tentacles, grinding down to chase the bliss provided by the underside of the appendage clinging to your pussy. The sinful squelch of skin on skin fills the quiet inlet. The scent of sex and salt intermingles. It’s wrong and it’s right. It’s instinct, carnal and corrupt. Azul groans against your breast, your teat between his teeth.

“Az—ooh!” You tug on his hair, insatiable. Your brain is fogging over with lust. You don’t want to lose yourself in this madness. You can’t. “N-No more… No more.” 

But he’s not listening. He pinches your other nipple between his fingers, and that’s all it takes for you to unravel.

In the aftermath, the tapered tip of a thicker tentacle squirms between your thighs. Mindlessly, you spread your legs and lift your hips for him. It presses in shallowly, a jarring experience.

“Not inside��don’t! You can’t!”

Azul pulls away from you, his expression scrunched in woozy ecstasy. “Why not?” he mumbles, smiling stupidly. “You’re my bride. It’s only fair…”

Before you can bicker, he kisses you. His tongue pursues yours in a sloppy tango. You lick into his mouth, desperate and dazed. Lost in a sea of salacity, shipwrecked on an island of forgotten inhibitions.

The tentacle pushes through rings of tight, slick muscle. Tears spring to your eyes. It feels weird and foreign, so unlike your fingers. He holds you close, minding his strength and pace. It fills you slowly, reaching places you’ve never been able to feel. The lust numbs your senses and gives way to something animalistic—a base desire you’ve suppressed. Azul rocks the appendage deeper until it’s pushed up against the entrance to your womb, squeezed snugly in your warm walls.

“I-It’s in…” you mumble once he’s broken the kiss, a strand of saliva connecting your mouths. “It’s really…inside me…”

Azul kisses your cheek and pets you with a tentacle. “We were made for each other.”

Surely not, you think, but it feels so when he draws back and thrusts in. Maybe he’s right.

He fucks you gently, savoring every single sound you make. He tells you he loves you, whispers it over and over like it’s prayer. You nod dumbly, grabbing at his hand to hold it. The both of you are gasping in unison, chasing cloud nine. In just a few more deep strokes, his tip bullying its way to your womb, he finally finds his end. A thin substance fills you up in plentiful amounts. Distantly, you think it’s water until he drags your hips further down. Your mouth drops open in a strangled scream as something round and gelatinous passes through. It settles in your womb, and you know right away that it shouldn’t be there.

You panic. “W-Wait… Wha—Zul… Stop… No, I don’t want—”

“It’s all right,” he breathes, his mouth on your shoulder. He soothes you with soft shushes and even softer kisses. “You’re okay. I’m here.”

You dig your nails into the tentacle curled in your palm just as a second orb squeezes through. He groans, his eyes squeezed shut.

“Finally…” He pants, a wobbly smile stretching on his delirious countenance. “Finally, my love, my dear—oh, my beloved bride!”

He cradles you like a mother would a newborn. You lie there as he fills you, your voice hoarse from babbling and bewailing. These things—little orbs of jelly—are stuffed into your womb, and by the time you surpass twenty you lose count and blank out, trembling through yet another orgasm. You’re not sure how many more he has left or how many more you can possibly fit. It feels too good to think about that.

“Bigger. They’ll get bigger. You’ll look so pretty—round and full and soft.”

Dizzy, you glance at the bloated dome that is your belly. Your gown strains over it, an impressively deceptive size that you almost mistake for pregnancy. That’s when it clicks. Eggs. These are eggs.

“I’ll make sure they survive. All of them—as many as I possibly can. I’ll stay by your side. I’ll keep you content. I’ll fill you with love—so much love—an abundance of it, and you’ll never know emptiness again,” he rambles, resting a tentacle over your distended middle.

It’s not just a senseless sweet nothing. It’s a promise.

[puppetmaster13u]

So, made Scrys of the batfamily. And honestly I just love the idea of giant sea dragons, y'know? And dragons in general. So! What if batfamily adoption, but with Fathom dragons!

(Behold, Danny, Sam, Tucker, Val, Ellie & Jazz)

SO ANYWAY! There's multiple ways a prompt of this could go, but I have three main ideas:

Option 1: It is similar to the normal Flight Rising world, where everyone is dragons. And they're in the same universe- that is, DP and DC are one timeline. In which case, the GIW or Fentons or Someone had to do something that sent the lil vigilante hatchlings adrift. Or someone sent them away for their own safety. Which is how they end up in the Gotham waters, which should kill anything else with how poisoned it is. But Amity is getting blasted with death radiation, has gotten pulled into another dimension full of it, that doesn't not have effects. That said the bats were not expecting several hatchlings to be swimming in their territory. Several injured hatchlings who instantly flee from them. Which. Is concerning.

Option 2 Not everyone is dragons. It's more of a dragon-shifter situation. Or a Wayne family curse that doesn't just effect blood-related members but anyone who joins the family. And it could be that it's the same world, or that DP & DC are different worlds. But somehow, maybe while not even in Gotham, at least one of the family stumbles across what should be impossible. Because like, Bruce didn't adopt again did he!? That's definitely several hatchlings, right? Right?! Bruce did not adopt these kids. His father Thomas, remembering two timelines thanks to the whole Flashpoint Fiasco, (and is now doubly traumatized) could not just leave these literal child (teen or no!) vigilantes all alone when he knows ways to help. He just also doesn't have a way to exactly inform any of his living family of this fact, or even thought about how the curse doesn't care if the adopter is in fact dead when they adopt.

Option 3 The same as Option 2, but Ghost Thomas might've perhaps accidentally become ghost king. (Look PK threatened his kids. Hell no.

Also have designs on like, adult scrys too

pspspsps @f4nd0m-fun @radiance1 @hdgnj I have brought ideas lol

[dreamslayer-fr]

My two cents, I absolutely LOVE the fathoms omfg These guys are way better than obelisks

Im a sucker for breeds with fun tails (skydancer tail puff my beloved) and the hatchlings are ADORABLE

My two hatches after many scatters

And A COLI BREED FINALLY!!!! I know a lot of people hate coli, but i have been DYING for a coli breed omg

[eclipsedcrystalstar]

Astro - Skydancer Originally thought Fae, but I think Skydancer really works. Skydancers can read out energy and emotion, they're gentle and when in a combat situation tend to focus on being stealthy and scouting things rather than directly fighting.

Boxten - Tundra Tundras aren't chatty, and like to avoid confrontation when possible.

Brightney - Snapper Snappers learn a lot and are basically walking encyclopedias. Would give you a novel of information if you listen for long enough!

Cosmo - Obelisk Obelisks like to help however they can, which I think fits with Cosmo pretty well

Dandy - Coatl I feel like the feathers would work well with his petals, along with the fact Coatls try to placate others with gifts, so I imagine the rejection of his 'gifts' {the items he offers, seeing them as gifts because tapes are mostly useless otherwise} would be taken as a sign of aggression, in which Coatls will swiftly fight

Flutter - Aether Moth /silly but on a more serious note, they travel around a lot which I feel like Flutter would do if she could. Unfortunately we dont really have much on Flutter

Finn - Fathom Enjoy light hearted conversations, near constant state of travel, water dragons.

Goob - Tundra Tundras are fluffy and quick to recognize friends, despite their poor facial memory!

Glisten - Pearlcatcher Just. Take this quote directly from the Pearlcatcher page. "A Pearlcatcher knows its species to be the pinnacle of dragonkind, and each individual rests secure in the knowledge that they are at the top tier of that select species. Pearlcatchers are known for their love of gossip, choice tidbits and secrets of other dragons a currency among them worth more than mere gold."

Gigi - Ridgeback "Ridgeback society revolves around borrowing. While other dragons might call this stealing, Ridgebacks think borrowing is a normal and necessary facet of life."

Poppy - Spiral Sprials are very energetic and excitable, talking a lot and tying themselves into knots sometimes

Razzle and Dazzle - Aberration Aberrations are two headed dragons with each head having their own consciousness. They work together in situations that are needed, but tend to have differing points of view.

Rodger - Snapper Snapper for similar reasons to Brightney, but I imagine he's older and more boring

Scraps - Spiral While Scraps isn't as excitable and energetic as Poppy, I still feel like Spiral works for her! Although to be fair I didn't really know what else to assign her

Shelly - Obelisk! Enthusiastic in wanting to help however they can {linking to her active ability}, an Obelisk is canonically an Archeologist {Arlo my beloved}!

Sprout - Wildclaw Fight alone to protect those they care about, cause a bit of conflicts with their point of view but the info we have on Wildclaws mostly relates to when its JUST a group of Wildclaws

Srimpo - Stormcatcher Bogsneak Like to be far away from others, frequently argue and dont care much about communal good

Teagan - Undertide Undertides are accommodating and patient, enjoying the company of others.

Tisha - Auraboa {new gen} Newer Auraboas that venture away from the Behemoth use their abilities to keep the lairs they live in good repair, not great at combat

Toodles - Hatchling Snapper Despite the excitable energy being fitting of a Spiral, her actual interests seem more to be aligned with a Snapper like Rodger

Vee - Sandsurge Incredibly efficient dragons that do not like their work methods to be changed. Work directly with electricity and are incredibly intelligent.

[rizardofether]

I didn't post about it as it happened last night but yay! Fathoms! The fathoms I got had some wild colours, and somehow ended both having grapefruit as colour.. Decided not to keep them and sold both of them.

The male could be a tide pod though I realized while going through potential genes, but I decided not to go for it myself. I left the scry in his bio though I hope the person who bought him goes for it, it would be funny.

Then I set out to scry a fathom I actually wanted. I fell in love with the hatchling's look so I wanted a permababy and went to scry. Unbelievably the random scry it started me with also had grapefruit as one of its genes, it's like the game really wants to give me grapefruit.

Anyway, this is what I settled on. Initially I wanted the tert to be a dark green, but there were no fern/fern with a dark green tertiary of any shade... Well I think it looks quite cute anyway. The random scry started with goat eyes and I thought they looked really cute and kept them. Initially I wanted wind, but had to settle for nature for the most fitting tert colour I could find.

Then I came up with an idea for a fathom breeding pair. double obsidian with a colourful tert glimmer with the largest possible colourpool with most of the more vibrant colours on it. I've done several purple-shade to orange-shade pairs for large pools since I enjoy the different colours they may get. Here it's just one gene so it doesn't end up with very chaotic combinations.

I can already make the permababy but ran out of money for the pair, though the dragons I bought for it would need to wait nearly a month before their breeding cooldown is over anyway.. Expect new fathom babies within the next month though. I will be enjoying watching the results and selling them.

[fictionkinfessions]

I miss him. I probably don't deserve to, but i really really do. Despite everything, he treated me well--he protected me, and made me feel wanted even when i knew nobody else ever wanted me around. He was smart, and dorky as all hell, and so fucking badass when he needed to be. I didn't deserve him, after everything. It was so cut and dry, i was supposed to just be executed, or exiled, or something--i wasn't ever supposed to stay. But he fought for it anyway. Even though I couldn't do the same. I failed to keep them safe, i failed to keep our baby safe, but he still wanted me. They'd have been more than justified in gutting me alive for putting them all in danger, i was hurt and useless, but he didn't let them. And then the kids agreed with him... i know it pissed her off. I don't blame her for it. But im really grateful for being allowed to live.

I don't usually have a lot of luck in the romance department--not now or ever--but... the more i remember him, the more i find myself wishing to go back to it. I get it, now. Again, i guess. The whole appeal of falling in love and starting a family. I really, really, didn't deserve it, but he was just... Amazing. I just wanted to make him happy. I would have done anything, but all he ever asked for was for me to stay alive. How sweet is that?

I think the worst part is that I won't find him again. I think my luck ran out. I can't even fathom attaching my name or his name to this little message because if there's even a fraction of a chance that it would disturb him, or any other version of him... I can't do that. How embarrassing, am i right?

I wasn't the picture perfect partner. i was a mess. i had so much blood on my hands. So much to make up for. I wasn't anything compared to who he had, before. She should have lived. I don't remember it, and he always said it couldn't be my fault because of that--but I was still the one that killed her. He should have wanted me dead too. And he did, at first. Things changed, obviously, but... That kind of guilt is hard to shake. Makes me feel like one of those shitty birds, who pushes eggs out of nests to replace with their own, a lazy way of guaranteeing the hatchling a good life. Im pretty sure that wasn't my intention, before that version of me died--but the results were still pretty much the same. She died, and i got the big happy family.

I know other versions of him would probably see it the same way. Probably be furious, disgusted even. It wasn't ever my plan, but to the outside eye, it could easily look that way. Like I was just using him, manipulating him with sex and acting all helpless when I had my freakouts so he could swoop in and be the hero. It wasn't, but im not stupid. Plenty of others suspected it, didn't think i even had the capacity to actually care about him. I didn't either. It took losing everything all over again to realize i couldn't keep choking back the fact that i did actually love him. It took leaving everything I knew behind. It took abandoning someone else, even though I tried to get him to come with me--because he had been the only other one to understand what it was like to be us. We were ghosts.

I don't know. None of this really matters now. I have to get up and go to work, still. Im just sad. I really wish i could be with him right now.

I miss you, ****. Please just be happy, wherever you are. That's all I want.

[nvrcmplt]

//. @oleandew​ “Oh, Sven!” Without much warning, arms are thrown around the naga’s shoulders, cheek pressed to cheek. Kennedy squeezes Sven’s shoulders with all the strength she can muster, love and adoration so big and bountiful and unconfined. Their smaller and more huggable Sven has returned!

She pulls away and cup his face in her hands, checking him over. The head of the fresh mark of their snake peeks just above the collar of her shirt, slinking over her right shoulder and coiling around her upper arm. Her fingers gingerly fluff up his bangs as if she’s making sure he’s put together.

“I’m so glad you’re alright.” Kennedy only vaguely remembers the frantic word of Melio when he found them all together in the forest, safe and unconscious. When she awoke back at home, she wasn’t the only one concerned more for Sven’s state than her own. All of the siblings had at some point come bumbling through the home, demanding to know where their naga was. Those moments feel like so long ago.

With a grin, she leans forward to press a kiss to his cheek. It leaves bright red and glossy lipstick on his skin, but she decides to leave it with a faint giggle. “You’ll never believe how worried we were about you. Welcome back.”

It was a feeling of guilt - Sven woke with guilt and pain from aching all over. Drained but welcomed in the hold of Nature. Mello's scent was the strongest he could fathom, so he slept for a little longer. Resting his joints and allowing himself to heal over in natures embrace. Another few hours and he was fully awake - blurry eyed and fuzzy head, his attention to himself was dismissed as he remembered just what had happened. Alarmed and with little else to explain but the sudden bubbling of thick tears, he hissed into his palms and sobbed through the relief of finally having his form back. Red eyed and feeling better from the emotions he couldn't really show through his other form, his truer and stronger form, he was off before Mello needed to tell him the direction.

Swift as a shadow, he dragged his body through the brush, roots and shadows of the trees. Taking little to no time to turn up at the human's house - where the pull of his safe Hatchlings all laid with unrest. Appearing at the footpath and stretching his senses, he was startled with Kennedy's frame racing out to greet him. She was always the most sensitive to his reach - and without shame, did his arms return the embrace. His body twirling with her within the blue scale coils to fully embrace her firm. His head nuzzled into her shoulder, held her just as tight with a muffled weep.

He missed this, this touch, this warm, this safety.

Sven was a mess when he was checked over but he was smiling with a wobbly grin as he welcomed his hatchling's hands in checking over his hair, his face and body were visible in the coils. The kiss to his cheek made him feel warm and he had no energy to rub aside the oil on his skin. The red will stay for a while! "Me too... I missed you dearly. I thought I'd never get to see you again like this." A sniffle of relief. "Thank you for finding me, for helping me..." His hands rose to rub at his eyes, pearls of water removed on his palms and fingers as he heard the door open again and more of his hatchlings come running out too.

He's coils have never held so much in them before but he felt so, so warm with his hatchlings!

[rogueprincc]

' he almost laughed at her feral display , it seemed caraxes had stiff competition in his wife when it came to displaying ones ferocious side " you are like a rabid dog in -- heat , bark . it might entertain me . " amusement lingering in his words , yet such did not reach his eyes . as his hands lowered , he saw , was that surprise or shock ? ' one could hardly fathom .

' yet as she spoke he sighed heavily , a young hatchling given in marriage before he barely figured out how to swarm down from his own nest . was it the -- marriage in general he detested ? no , it was the knowledge that he had no choice in the matter , and the fact they both acted like raging cunts throughout those ' days that should have been honeymoon bliss , instead it was insults after insults , and he would never deny that it was mostly done in his behalf , he was -- always the one to rile the other - but that was how he came to know someone , how could you truly tell a persons true self without seeing their anger ? their disgust ? ' the words they wished to say but had no voice to do so , oh but his lady wife had a voice , one she used quite often " that is a shame , you would have only got burnt . "

' a brief roll of his eyes , an irritated sigh , he turned away from her . words he knew , words he often heard whispered about himself , how could words such as hers -- hurt him or even sway him when he owned them ? he knew what he was " i am the very bane of everyones existence , yet you will not see me gone for quite some ' time , i suggest you all get used to it . " going over to the table , picking up the pitcher and goblet , pouring the rich red liquid into the goblet before bringing it to his -- mouth , tasting the bittersweet droplets that would wash away whatever words she threw at him, bringing it away he set the pitcher down .

' whatever songs she thought would be sung about her brave act of defiance , he would pay tenfold for insults to be said instead of praise . he was no mere dog , no -- hound , he was a dragon , he did not bite he breathed fired upon those who opposed him and turned their miserable lives into ashes before their eyes . raising his ' brow , he turned to her , raising his cup towards her , he had no doubt about her strength , for who else would dare come against him in such a way ? no other " -- then i will congratulate you , wife . that through your sorrow filled marriage with me , you have found something all these fucking cunts have been lacking , a ' pair of balls . yours weigh heavy and drop lower than every cunt that sit upon your council . " yet his smile almost faltered , that amused grin almost dropped at -- those words , love . such a fickle emotion " love makes you weak , it makes even the strongest of minds fall under a spell and leaves you open from every angle , ' every position . we were not made for love , you and i . " love was a poison, sent to cripple and to bind , to put invisible chains around ones neck - he had no room for - love .

' and for a moment , he almost felt guilt . after all , he did come into her chambers and practically make her feel so uncomfortable that she had to leave , ' -- a shame really for as soon as that feeling even touched upon his core , it was gone " yes i like the chamber , but fear not . i will not take it . " setting down the ' goblet , he stood straightening his tunic " before it slips my mind , and before i leave , i will be joining the council meeting tomorrow , after all , i am your husband . - it will give my time in exile some...entertainment . "

[bluiex]

Oh? Angst? I’ll give you some ANGST. I’ve been holding off on this one <3

grian expecting/being pregnant with his and scar’s eggs, and they’re both so happy and ready for their little hatchlings, and Grian finally lays them, only 1 or 2 but eggs nonetheless and they spend all their time cooing and loving on their eggs and keeping them all cozy and safe in grians nest, until one day grian wakes up and. Uh oh! His eggs don’t smell right and something feels off and what do you know, grians eggs didn’t survive. Grian and Scar have to bury their eggs before they even get to hold their hatchlings for the first time, and although all the other hermits try to comfort them and spend extra time with both of them or just be there for them, a lot of days they barely have the energy or will to move from their nest and each other’s embrace in their despair.

☕️ anon (mmmm angst I love me some good juicy angst)

*lays on the floor, try not to cry, cry a lot* NOT THE EGGS AAAAAAAAAA So saaad. They just cannt fathom the fact their babies didn't make it.. and just are in a consist state of mourning and denial for a long time.. holding each other, crying an unable to really do much but do that

[inkribbon796]

Arkham Mysteries Ch 1

Summary: Whispers of a horror time forgot and monster fueled by twisted magic The district of Arkham is home to powers old as the birth of the universe, and as new as modern technology.

In a little town outside of Gainesville, Florida children and adults go missing. Little Remus Prince becomes another childhood statistic, but he does not die like others before him.

A/N: Blood and gore warning! It’s Remus’s birthday and here’s a Lovecraft Au and there will be death in this one, but not to Remus or Janus. They are my babies.

Guess who’s getting back into the Lovecraft mythos after Color out of Space? It’s me, I love cosmic horror. So because I was bitten by some plot bunnies after that short I did during Darkstache Week, I wrote some more. When will I update this? Hell if I know maybe every third week, maybe once every two months. It depends but all of them will be compiled here instead of linked together shorts. Enjoy.

Chapters: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4

Chapter 1: Snake in the Grass

It was a humid August day, the dusk of a new moon was about to rise up into the darkening sky.

Remus angrily kicked the wild flowers, angry as he tried to blink the tears from his eyes. He just wanted to play with Roman and his friends. But Roman always acted like he was the literal plague and at best ignored him, or at worst, pushed him away.

So he was walking around the woods behind their house, angry and sad, when he heard something.

Remus stopped, the sound was like a sob of pain mixed with some type of high pitched hiss of frustration. Looking around a bit for a good sized stick and immediately went to check the source of the noise.

Climbing over a downed tree trunk, Remus almost stepped on top of someone lying in a net trap, the boy’s arms trapped to his side, little metal studs painfully digging into his side and arms. What froze Remus wasn’t the fact that there was another kid lying in the trap, but that they didn’t have any legs. Instead there was a long yellow snake tail, patches of green scales like freckles on his body.

The snake boy immediately looked at Remus and hissed at him, one eye a dark brown, the other a bright yellow.

Remus just stared at the boy, so captivated by the sight of him. The snake boy then looked in another direction and gave a desperate hiss, almost screeching out. It was enough to shake Remus from his trance and he started working to get the boy out, almost getting bitten in the process.

It took a little bit and the boy started helping the instant his arms were free. Afterwards he let out an indignant hiss at the trap, as if screaming at it.

“So pretty,” Remus couldn’t help himself and touched where the boy’s legs should be. His scales were cold and smooth instead of slimy. Running down the snake boy’s spine was a short ridge of brown, white, and black feathers that bristled at the touch of Remus’s hands.

The snake boy started and dragged him into the tree stump, there was a hole that had been made by a couple animals before them. It was full of mushrooms and bugs and Remus was instantly enchanted by them.

“Ooh, this is one’s slimy,” Remus said.

The boy slapped his hand over his mouth. “Shhh!”

Remus noticed the palm of his hand had some scales on it and in a typical Remus fashion of not thinking and wanting to see what something tasted like, licked his hand. It tasted like blood and swamp mud.

“Ugh,” the snake boy hissed.

At that moment, four men came out of the bushes, making the boy press Remus closer to the squishy bottom of the rotting tree trunk. Remus watched in amazement as the bright yellow scales started to turn a mottled brown, successfully camouflaging him with the tree, and Remus with the tree in the process.

“The fuck he go?” One of men snarled, Remus finally noticing that the men all had rifles.

“Couldn’ta gone far,” one of the others reassured. “Look at all this blood.”

Remus noticed a particularly sharp stone lying in the trunk. He grabbed it and braced himself to lunge out and stab the hunter who was wandering closer to the mouth of the trunk.

There was a loud growling hiss and the men all turned away from the trap.

“What was that?”

“Probably a mama looking for her baby, with any luck.”

“Stay quiet,” the snake boy whispered. Then he let out a hissing caterwaul.

Remus heard the sound of a rifle being cocked back, he readied his little stone as someone knelt down and looked at the two of them. His eyes traveled around the hole until he noticed them.

“There you are,” he smiled.

Remus screamed and drove the stone into the man’s face. He screamed, the rifle fired, almost hitting one of the other hunters.

Suddenly the hunters had worse to deal with than a small child with a sharp stone and an injured naga in a tree trunk. Six large nagas, each twice the size of a human, surged out of the tree line, moving impossibly fast. The small yellow snake boy surged out of the trunk and wrapped around Remus, coiling his tail around him and forcing him to drop the stone. Remus watched as the four hunters were attacked, bullets bouncing off hardened scales like tiny pebbles.

Their screams were burned into his mind, grown men strangled until they were unconscious and then tied up for a better purpose.

The largest of the six nagas slid over to the two boys, Remus’s new friend’s coiled muscles tightening around Remus just a hair tighter. She just stared at them and the naga boy hissed warningly at her.

That got an amused chuckle out of her, she lowered down closer to  his level. “What do you have there, little Janny?”

“Mine,” Janus hissed, still protecting Remus.

“Little hatchling,” the serpentine humanoid smiled in such an odd way that made Remus reflexively giggle a bit, almost like his soul was trying to leave his body. “He’s a bit too big for you to eat.”

“You’re pretty,” Remus smiled, starting to reach out to touch that long, pretty black hair.

“Mine,” Janus hissed, coiling a bit tighter around Remus, hugging Remus so that the boy’s arms were pinned to his body. “I want to keep him.”

The woman looked behind her, talking to one of the other nagas in a language Remus didn’t understand, but it made this brain feel fuzzy. He liked it, giggling a bit. The other nagas laughed and Janus the naga let out an angry huff.

“May I speak with your pet?” The larger naga asked Janus. “I promise not to eat him.”

Janus began to uncoil himself, but kept a hand on Remus’s arm.

“Hello little monkey,” she greeted.

“Hello, ma’am,” Remus greeted politely, giving a toothy smile.

“Such a pleasant little thing,” she hissed lovingly.

“My momma says I’m a little monster,” Remus smiled confidently, a huge smile on his face.

“Hmmm,” she hissed, curling his hair behind his ear. “Really? What type of monster?”

Remus shrugged, his hands going up a bit, “She never told me, ma’am.”

“Would you like to come with us?” She asked. “We’re having a party to celebrate, we’ll eat your friends.”

“They’re not my friends,” Remus told her, picking up the still-bloody stone. “I stabbed one.”

“You are just a delight, aren’t you, little monkey?” She chortled.

“I don’t want him eaten,” Janus told her.

“We won’t,” she promised, and Janus dragged Remus along to follow the group. He followed them into a cave that led out into a cavern with a hole carved into the ceiling. So that when the moon was highest in the sky it would be visible, regardless of the time of the year.

There was a group of thirty snake people, but only one other child, and they instantly tried to bite Remus when he got close. Janus hissed at them and then dragged him away, presenting Remus with a little necklace made of leaves, flower stems, and sharp stones that caught the light of the moon.

For the first time in Remus’s young life he felt included in something, that he was wanted. More wanted than anyone or anything had made him feel in his life

As he sat, watching a ceremony that would culminate in four people being strangled and ripped to shreds to be eaten, blood covering a stone altar whose purpose Remus’s young, yet untainted mind couldn’t fathom.

Truthfully, Remus’s fate wasn’t to go home when he met Janus, but he wouldn’t fight the nest’s decision. He was already home.

~::~ 13 Years Later ~::~

Remus was humming a little tune to himself, holding a large stick that looked more like a mace with several nails and sharp objects driven through it.

“Hey, buddy,” someone suddenly behind Remus called out. He was armed. “It’s too dangerous for you to be here. ‘Sides it’s private property.”

Remus turned to look at him, itching the edge of his mustache. “Huh?”

The man could almost feel like something was wrong, like a particularly smart fish looking at a flashy lure. But he couldn’t exactly place, but he looked at this young man half his age, staring at a patch of swamp as if he planned to swim in crocodile-infested water.

“You shouldn’t be here, you have folks I can call?” The man asked. “This area’s full of gators.”

Remus let out a full body chuckle, smiling at him. “Oh I’m planning on it.”

Somewhere behind him the man heard the rustling and snapping of twigs. He started to check his gun as he turned to look behind him, seeing a dark shadow moving somewhere in the distance.

“Hey!” Remus shouted, running towards the man with his mace, the man cursed and started to raise his rifle towards him.

The man barely was half turned when something large slammed into him from the direction he’d just been facing. He was knocked to the ground, gun flying to the ground, discharging harmlessly into the forest. The man screamed as he felt something like a snake coiling around him but a flawed hand at his throat, ripping at the soft flesh of his throat to kill him even faster.

Remus stepped closer, his mace hiding behind his back like it was a surprise. He smiled as he kicked the rifle into the small, nearby swampy lake.

The man was weakly fighting as the large, yellow serpentine body continued crushing and constructing. Words bubbles in his throat but because of his state he couldn’t make words.

Remus leaned in, stroking Janus’s side as he spoke to the man, “Shhh, don’t fight, it prolongs it, and I hear a brain hemorrhage sours the taste.”

He finally took a couple steps back and leaned on his mace as he watched.

Janus’s victim didn’t last much longer the claws mixed with a crushing strength of serpentine muscles against a human rib cage . . . well, it would have been laughable to even admit he stood a chance.

Because Remus was standing close enough, but not close enough to be a threat to an apex creature’s newest meal, he got blood spattered on him as he watched another human die.

After Janus was done feeding, he looked over at Remus, his iris narrowed slits.

“How was he ma moitié,” Remus grinned, waving his fingers at the naga.

The yellow naga slid over, coiling loosely around Remus and leaning down to kiss him. Remus felt all the tension leave his body when their lips touched.

“You did wonderfully,” Janus praised, tracing the bottom of Remus’s face.

Remus let out a giggle cackle, jumping up excitedly, “Do we have to head back to the nest? It’s been ages since I stretched my legs.”

“Well we do have a bit of time,” Janus smiled. “Can’t let my favorite pet go stir crazy.”

The human let out a wild giggle that reeked of madness, “I’m your only pet, Dee.”

“True,” Janus’s right eyebrow arched. “I do always like to keep you on your toes. Let’s go before I fall asleep.”

“Yay,” Remus scrambled over part of Janus’s body, already starting to scramble down the path. As he walked, taking a long, slow stride, the nearly silent sliding of a large snake in the forest turned into the soft footfall of feet on dirt.

Remus turned around to see Janus following him, walking backwards, the naga looking human but with an air of not looking quite right. The left side of his face and hands covered in green and yellow scales. He left out a trilling bird call, hissing through his teeth. “Always such a looker ma moitié.”

“Focus on the road, I’d love for you to trip and gash your head open,” Janus’s hiss was almost a warm purr.

“I walk just fine,” Remus laughed, right before tripping over a large rock. Janus let out a higher pitched laugh.

Remus groaned a bit at the sharp pain in his ankle, but smiled at the laughter from his serpentine boyfriend. The nagas were a sadistic bunch, and Remus could only feel a similar giggle bubbling from his body, it felt so good to hear Janus laugh.

Janus let out a warning hiss right before someone’s voice said, “You boys okay?”

Janus quickly turned the left side of his face to hide his scales, burying his hands in his cloak. An older woman was coming down the trail.

Jumping up, Remus stood in front of Janus, “Oh we’re fine, just tripped is all.”

“Oh, I just heard some screaming is all,” she said. “I was just worried, is all. Do you boys live near here?”

“Yes,” Remus answered, trying to hide his nervous giggle. “Just moved in, city life is so stifling.”

The old woman just smiled, “It’s so good to see young people moving back into the village.”

“Yeah, well,” Remus smiled. “We’re okay, do you need help back to the village?”

“What are you doing?” Janus hissed demandingly, the hairs on the back of Remus’s neck stood on end in dangerous discomfort.

“Just trust me, it’s a town,” Remus whispered, and walked over to the woman.

“Aren’t you a nice gentleman?” The older woman smiled, but squinted her eyes a bit when he got closer. “Have we met before?”

“Maybe?” Remus shrugged, starting to head in the direction the woman had come from.

“Yes, you’re Miranda’s boy, always such a sweet boy,” she smiled pleasantly as something painful began to boil in Remus’s heart. Something that the human thought he had killed and buried years ago.

“I thought you went off to the big city?” She asked.

“Surprise?” Remus grinned, she smiled back.

They walked for a bit, the woman talking and Remus trying not to scream and alert more humans. Janus was just silently watching him, following at a distance, still looking human enough to fool most actual humans. Eventually it was all over, the woman lived towards the edge of town and Remus waved her goodbye, refusing to come inside. He felt like his skin was trying to crawl away from him.

Finally the door was closed and Remus stared at the town, barely visible through the trees.

“Are you quite done?” Janus huffed, clearly angry.

“Where are we?” Remus asked.

Janus was quiet for a second, clearly upset and angry. “I don’t know, we try to stay away from this place, it’s too big for us to take.”

“Why stay away? You could glut yourself on this town for decades and no one would know.”

“Because I found you near here,” Janus commented.

Something uncomfortable stabbed at Remus’s heart, of a small boy whose only playmate never wanted him around.

“Let’s burn it to the ground,” Remus growled maliciously.

Whatever reaction Janus expected from the human, it clearly hadn’t been willful arson.

“It’s unsafe, our nest is too close,” Janus warned.

“We’re due to move again, and the new moon is coming up, the Grand Leader was complaining yesterday about not having enough sacrifices,” Remus’s grin was impossible to wipe off his face, he gestured to the town in the distance. “Here’s more than we could ever need. Yig would be so pleased.”

“Enough!” Janus hissed, his features more monstrous. The naga grabbed Remus by the arm and began pulling him back to the nests. “What have we told you about invoking his name? You are still human, never forget that!”

Once they were far enough away Janus turned back into his proper form. “You are not leaving me, you swore to me with your own blood. You are mine, Remus, those filthy humans can’t have you.”

“I don’t want to go back, I want them dead!” Remus shouted back, bravely looking into the naga’s eyes. “I want them all dead.”

Janus seemed to calm down a bit, stroking the side of Remus’s face. “Yes, of course. I’ll talk with the others, but I’m not making any promises.”

Remus leaned into the touch, trying to calm the bloodlust inside of him. He would be back, with or without the Grand Leader’s permission. The town would burn, and maybe the smog in his heart would finally lift.

He followed his love back to the naga nests, he’d find his brother again and wet his blood on the new moon altar.

Or he would die trying.

[authorjessieallyn-blog]

Two Books, One Writer

Hello Hatchlings! Today I wanted to talk about the beautiful disaster that is writing two books at once. Many writers couldn't fathom writing two novels at once, but it's a beautiful piece of hell that most authors find themselves in. Sometimes an author will be working on one book and get a brilliant idea. Not being able to fit it into their current plot, they just decide to give it it's own book. Before they realize what has happened, they are writing two books at once.

In my case, I love writing romance novels, but the novel I'm currently writing does not have romance in it. So to keep it the way I envisioned it, I have to write my romance elsewhere so it doesn't accidentally seep into my main book.

Now, you'll notice I said “main book”, and that's something you need to understand if you are writing two novels at once. One of the two novels will be your main book. This will be the book that gets most of your attention. The book you sit down and write for hours, the one you lose sleep over, and the one that you are most concerned with. The second novel, while you might love it just as much...unless you are a wizard at balancing time...that second book just won't get as much attention as the first.

That doesn't mean the second book won't be as good or that you didn't put as much effort into it. It just means that if it takes longer to complete, that's okay. You aren't in a rush to complete this one like you are for your main book. And that is honestly the only mindset that will work if you want write two novels at once. You'll have to play favorites and pick one to focus on more, otherwise they will both take forever to complete.

Are there any other writers out there that are writing two stories at once? What are they about? Let me know in the comments below!

[fletcher-fr]

The Fey Calamity

part 6 of 8 (part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5)

Queen Amdiffyn was glad to be on her way back home. As much as she loved the Nature realm, and the Gladehavens, she had been born in the Twisting Crescendo after all. She missed the sounds of the wind, of the quiet rattling of the jewels against the walls of her palace. And it had been a relief to be able to slip away with Ikelos more often… but she was a Queen. She wanted to see the other members of her queendom again.

And yet, as she drew closer to the steppes, anxiety gripped her. There was smoke on the horizon. She couldn’t shake the fear that it might be the Fletching Clan.

She glanced back at the other dragons flying with her. Ikelos, Arduinna, the bogsneak sisters, and Sylvan. All of the Nature dragons who had come with her to the Viridian Labyrinth for the holiday. Dibella gave her a reassuring smile.

But as the twisting waters of the Leviathan Trench slipped under them and the cliffs came into sight, the Queen’s heart dropped.

Violently pink smoke billowed up from the walls of the Fletching Clan palace.

Glittering spires of fae sap jutted up where they had fallen into the bay below.

Amdiffyn screamed.

The party rushed forward as silence closed in around Amdiffyn with the adrenaline. All she could hear was the beat of her own heart and the pounding rush of air in her ears as she descended on the crumbling palace. Her feet touched the ground before the front doors; one swung wildly off its hinges, the other lay shattered across the steps. Hazy light streaked through into the courtyard within in great vermilion bars. Where once walls had cordoned off halls and columns draped with silks, now the fae sap lay crushed, glinting along one long path to the throne Amdiffyn had once occupied.

Now, a new dragon sat in the throne. Its great marble wings wreathed his head, catching sunlight like a halo.

At his feet, the bodies of dragons were heaped. Amdiffyn’s stomach churned as she stared at them; friends, subjects. She recognized most; Hecate, Callisto, Sakine, Blight… Even Karliah, her most faithful mercenary, and both the Spring and Autumn Suns. The world around her began to spin. She saw the marks of Maren poison on them, and Talonok claws…

The dragon on the throne was speaking, drawing her back from the abyssal despair that was beginning to eat her. She looked at him with rage. He spoke in a tongue she did not recognize, but a voice echoed his, translating it. Amdiffyn looked wildly about for the source, and her heart stopped when she found it. Leannan lay chained to a broken pillar beside the throne. He was barely a skeleton. Sidhe was collapsed beside him, her once-beautiful scales dull and lifeless.

“Amdiffyn, we were told to expect you,” Leannan rasped in Sornen. “Your people have fled.”

Amdiffyn stumbled forward, reaching out to them, but a massive creature slammed its paw down in front of her. She jumped back, shaken, and followed the line of braided muscle up to the thing’s face. It looked like it could have been a pearlcatcher too, but it had no pearl, and its form was disfigured into something uncanny and wild. It bared its fangs at her.

“This is Kandrial,” said the dragon who sat on her throne. “It was with his help that we recovered this territory.”

Territory…?

“Who are you?” Amdiffyn demanded. She heard Leannan translating.

“I am the rightful king of this land. Alekain, son of the bamboo grove.” The dragon--she could see now that he was a skydancer--stood from the throne. “My people have been trapped within the grove for months.”

Amdiffyn was lost for words. She had been informed of the fey in Leannan’s Grove, of course, but only as a small, quiet group, happy to live amongst themselves.

“I don’t understand,” she said, holding out her hands. “We had no idea, or else…”

“Precisely that. You cannot fathom us. You did not see and so we were left to rot.”

Amdiffyn’s whole body shook, but she stood with her back straight, chin held high. How could she have foreseen this? After everything she had put together over months to finally establish stability and confidence, something so far out of her control now destroyed it all?

The disfigured pearlcatcher snarled at her. He, too, was speaking, and Leannan translated again.

“You will leave this place, now, or be slaughtered like your kin. You left us no choice.”

Choice? What choice did I have? Amdiffyn wanted to argue… but she recognized unreasonable creatures when she saw them. She needed time to regroup. She had to find the others. So, with one last glance at Sidhe and Leannan--I swear we will come back for you--she turned, sweeping the others out with her.

Mabel was crying as they spilled out onto the charred grass that had once been host to Morrigan’s flowers.

“Where do we go now? Everything… everything is gone… Sakine...”

Amdiffyn stood with her back perfectly straight, as her father had taught her, even as she shook with grief. He would know precisely what to do, she thought bitterly, before pushing them on, away from the skeleton of their home.

Over the course of the next four days, they slowly located each member of the clan scattered throughout the territory. Most had stayed in a group and fled southeast along the coast, while others had begun toward the territories of their parents. Amdiffyn let them go, those who did not wish to stay, but the rest she rallied together as best she could. She sent the best merchants to sell what they had managed to salvage worth selling; pieces of clothing they had been wearing when the attacks had begun, memorabilia they had taken with them. She gathered all the money and began to lay out plans with her advisors how best to spend it to keep them safe. They would need to find a new place to stay before winter.

But, as soon as all were regrouped and gathered to hear Amdiffyn speak, an unease that ran deeper than fear rattled the group. Amdiffyn tried to continue, reassuring them that the palace would be theirs again, but whispered voices interrupted her. She paused, brow furrowed as she looked over the crowd. Finally, a few dragons began to speak out.

“She broke her own law.”

“She had children with the dancer.”

“Ikelos. I saw them; four of them, just as Hecate’s letter said.”

All heads turned to her, clamor rising, as panic set in. Amdiffyn looked from dragon to dragon as fear and confusion rocked her. What were they talking about? She pulled her wings protectively around herself as the voices grew louder, accusing.

Sif stood in the back of the crowd. She was not a large dragon, but in that moment her voice drew the attention of every member of the clan with its fierceness.

“I took the hatchlings to our allies. There’s nothing to be done about it now. What we must focus on is our survival, and regaining our home.”

Amdiffyn didn’t hear anything after that. She couldn’t keep her back straight this time. Tears rose unbidden to her eyes. Children? She had children? She sought out Ikelos in the crowd and found him just as confused and afraid as her. He clutched his pearl with shaking paws.

As the group began to move south again, Amdiffyn drew Sif aside to beg for information about the hatchlings.

“You aren’t the only one,” Sif explained. “Many of us have days we don’t remember in the last month. It’s the fey magic.”

She began to recount the events of the past few weeks, with Hecate’s and Callisto’s deaths and the attack of the fey and Beasclans, but Amdiffyn couldn’t take it, not when she knew she had hatchlings, Ikelos’ children. Ahead of them, the dancer walked on his own, given a wide berth by the other dragons.

“One of them is with Clan Stellon, another with the Windsinger temple to the north. The last two are at Gladehavens,” Sif told her.

Amdiffyn’s brow furrowed. “Gladehavens? But we only just came from there. I didn’t see you, and we didn’t pass in the sky.”

Sif’s jaw tightened. “I… I know I took them. It must have been just after you left. It’s a wide sky, after all.”

Amdiffyn opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by a sudden outburst at the front of the group. They’d sighted an inn, large enough to shelter all of them. Amdiffyn craned her neck and saw the structure they were referring to; a large, simple longhouse, situated by the cliffs. It looked brand new; the wood shone with polish in the dusk light, and the flower beds outside were prepared with dark soil, but nothing grew in them yet.

Relieved, they all piled inside, only to find no-one there. But rain was setting in, and wind battered the building, so they stayed, buzzing with unease, until finally a stranger appeared. A coatl; she looked at them all in utter confusion, but Amdiffyn stepped forward to explain their plight. She could still hear the mutters of contention even as she spoke.

The coatl’s name was Henalee, and she had lost her family in Dragonhome only months ago. She had been building this inn ever since in the hopes of giving a home to other dragons who had nowhere to go. She smiled nervously at all of the dragons crowded in the longhouse. “The opportunity came earlier than expected,” she said, “But I’ll help you all any way I can.”

[eyesearing-fr]

Okay since I have twelve permanent dragons... (the guys I know are staying with me, I have some basic personality info for most and that I have plans for on this blog)

And thanks to the NOTN, I now have twelve babies.

I’d like to think each of my permadregs would each be assigned a hatchling to take care of, until adopted. I’m going to write out a story for this... under the cut! (I’m very tired and won’t be writing all of them)

First story:

Fathom had been at the hatching, he’d seen the three Pearlcatchers emerge and immediately consume their egg shells. That was a few hours ago. He didn’t know why they did. Fathom wanted to know.

“HEUGH,” chocked the hatchling “HARGH!” Fathom snapped back into focus. 

“Oh no no no no no nononono,” Fathom gasped, sucking in a sharp breath. His first instinct was to pull the Heimlich maneuver. The baby was barely smaller than he was, and somehow weighed 9 times more.  Martyr’s head popped around the corner into Fathom’s study, where he had brought the adult Pearlcatcher’s son.

“HELP ME, MART!” 

“Oh.” OH? OH! “That’s normal.” Oh. Oh? Fathom starred at him. “Yeah, it’s Pearlcatcher thing.” 

Fathom turned back to the baby and saw that it had coughed up a large pearl. 

Oh. So that’s where they came from. Ew.

Second Story:

Radar was holding a very fluffy hatchling.

“Hey,” He said softly. She opened her eyes. “I know a lot of dragons don’t think dirty green and bright purple go together.” Her eyes drifted down. “But you know what? I think your colors are perfect.” She perked up. “Don’t let anyone get you down. And you know what? If you go up to the Arcanist,” Radar glanced up for a second, then continued, “or some other deity, just know you went up with love in your heart. We... can’t keep you. But we love you.”

Tired. I’ll write more, if i do, later.

[edh-a-to-z]

Every Ixalan Card - Red

Time for Red!

Angrath’s Marauders

Grade: B

Good fun in those one-sided double damage decks. Dictate of the Twin Gods and the like on a body. Gisela loves it.

Bonded Horncrest

Grade: D-

You will die because of the no-blocking clause.

Brazen Buccaneers

Grade: F+

Meh tribal body. Fodder

Burning Sun’s Avatar

Grade: C

Big dino, good dino. Gishath, at least, can use him.

Captain Lannery Storm

Grade: F+ as commander, C as Revel

Decent part of the Revel in Riches plan.

Captivating Crew

Grade: C

Steal. Attack. Sac it to something.

Darn seductive pirates takin’ everything.

Charging Monstrosaur

Grade: C

Good dino body for a fair cost.

Scarlet Pete got away...almost.

Demolish

Grade: Reprint

There are strictly better options, like Violent Impact.

Dinosaur Stampede

Grade: C

It’s a fair win con. Like Overrun for Dinos.

Dual Shot

Grade: Meh Reprint

Something’s gotta fill out the set.

Fathom Fleet Firebrand

Grade: D

Bad firebreathing does not warrant a slot in Pirate Tribal.

Fiery Cannonade

Grade: B-D, meta dependent

Tribal one-sided low damage sweeper is interesting. Instant makes it better.

Fire Shrine Keeper

Grade: F

Heh. Menace. This hidden city looks pretty neat.

Firecannon Blast

Grade: F

Limited targeting options, and condition to increase damage isn’t great.

Frenzied Raptor

Grade: F+

Vanilla tribal filler

Headstrong Brute

Grade: D

Not the worst filler ever, but still filler.

Hijack

Grade: Reprint

So this is how they use the Angrath art? I hope he gets a card later.

Lightning Strike

Grade: F

Just Bolt it. Seriously.

Lightning-Rig Crew

Grade: D-

Thermo Pirate. Still crappy for EDH.

Makeshift Munitions

Grade: D+

For an extra (1), you get Barrage of Expendables with artifact sacrifice option. Of course, paying for things is for suckers, which is why we have Goblin Bombardment.

Nest Robber

Grade: D-

Cute art. Still fodder.

Otepec Huntmaster

Grade: B

Must-have for Tribal Dino decks. Dino Banneret is awesome, and the type of tribal support successful tribes need to survive.

Rampaging Ferocidon

Grade: C+

No lifegain, we die like men.

Raptor Hatchling

Grade: D+

Abusable with indestructible shenanigans, but that requires some work-around or luck. Still, a supply of 3/3 tramplers is nothing to shy at, and with a Blood Artist, indestructible hatchling, and Goblin Bombardment - hey, you win!

But if it doesn’t work, you basically had two french vanilla creatures in one. Hard to justify the card slot.

Repeated Volley

Grade: F-

If you want crappy overpriced damage, get the Soul of Shandalar. At least it looks cool.

Rigging Runner

Grade: C?

I’m not an expert on EDH goblin tribal. Elves, Soldiers, Scarecrows, Angels, Wizards, Vamps, even Dragons. Not gobs.

Seems like a pretty good Goblin. I think.

Rile

Grade: ??? or F+

An enrage enabler that replaces itself. Trample is nice. I need to test this out to see how well the dinos work.

My reserve bet is that it’s a piece of crap.

Rowdy Crew

Grade: D-

I hate uncontrollable low-reward randomness. And the body is still weak.

Rummaging Goblin

Grade: Reprint

Classic gob. I like the art.

Star of Extinction

Grade: A+

Blasphemous Act. Even bigger. With land destruction.

It’s beautiful man!  IT’S BEAUTIFUL MAN!

Storm Fleet Arsonist

Grade: D+

They sacrifice a land. In a multiplayer game. 

Congrats, you’ve gained nothing.

Storm Fleet Pyromancer

Grade: D+

Raid is really flavorful for the pirates. It’s still filler

Sun-Crowned Hunters

Grade: D

One target at a time, 3 damage at a time. Meh. Needs to do more for 6 mana.

Sunbird’s Invocation

Grade: B

It’s big, flashy, and has big effects. Quasi-cascade is pretty fun, and quasi-cascade with your choice of X cards.

Sure Striker

Grade: Reprint

Battle trick. Move along.

Swashbucking

Grade: F+

Love the name, love the look. And confirms the Legion of Dusk as big meanies.

Thrash of Raptors

Grade: F+

I guess that’s what a group of raptors is called.

Bear with Upside Tilonalli’s Knight

Grade: F+

Bear with upside and Dino synergy is nice, but just doesn’t cut it in EDH.

Tilonalli’s Shapeshifter

Grade: D-

The best case scenario (copying a big Eldrazi, or something) doesn’t compare to the fact it dies to a ping.

Trove of Temptation

Grade: C

Forcing people to attack is fun. Getting free stuff is fun. 

Players either attack you anyway, in which case it doesn’t matter, or either have to send something into the jaws of death. In aggro, you force others to have one less defender. Works for me.

Unfriendly Fire

Grade: F-

By Garfield, these new burn spells suck.

Vance’s Blasting Cannon

Grade: C+

Not easy to pull off, and the benefit...not as great as the other legendaries.

Wily Goblin

Grade: C-

Only for the Revel deck.

Hualti’s Spurring

Grade: F+

Low level battle tricks suck in EDH.

So, whatchat think?

Agree?

Disagree?

Let me know!